POLAND - Bible Study Behind Bars

 Adam was doing time in Poland's prison system when he opened the Bible for the first time in his life. A worker trained by Bible League International had been coming to the prison to lead a Bible study. Adam decided to become part of the small group of inmates which was studying God's Word behind bars.

After several months of discipleship, Adam and others in the group were baptized. They established a little prison church that is growing both spiritually and numerically. Sometimes, though, the congregation "loses" members when someone is released or transferred to other prisons.

That's what happened to Adam, who was serving the longest sentence of everyone in the group. He was sent to another prison.

Adam never imagined the plan God had for him in his new prison. It was there he met Bogdan, another inmate, and helped lead him to our Savior through Bible study.

In a letter to our national director in Poland, Bogdan explains, "Sometimes, I would try to read the Bible, but I couldn't understand many passages. I would read something, but never really knew what to think about it."

"Then Adam came to our prison. With his help I started to get interested in the Bible. He wasn't at all what I was expecting. I had heard many negative things about him, but now he's completely different. He spent many hours with me and was very patient in explaining to me the many interesting things it says. Thanks to him, I've started to think about things in a different way."

"The light of God's Word is clearly shining brightly in some of the darkest places, like prison," Bible League's national director explains. "As prison wardens see the change in the behavior of inmates whose lives have been transformed by the living Word of God, they are more open to evangelical Christians doing ministry in their institutions."

Thanks to Bible League, trained Christians who shared the Bible, Adam came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. God then used Adam to help bring Bogdan into a saving relationship with His Son.

"I am really glad that Adam helped me understand the Gospel," Bogdan writes. "I want to continue to get to know the Bible more, and change my attitude towards the world and other people. Without God, my life is empty and worthless."

      Select Central & Eastern Europe

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